Thomas Kunz
Systems and Computer Engineering
36
GSM: Dedicated Channels
–traffic channels (TCH)
carry user speech and data, as well as some signaling
–a TCH is
always allocated with a corresponding Slow Associated Control Channel
(SACCH) used for reporting handover measurements
–TCH slots may
be ‘stolen’ from a traffic channel for Fast Associated Control
Channel (FACCH) signaling, used for call establishment, handover
execution, and authentication
–full rate TCH/SACCH
occupies one time slot every 8 burst periods (TDMA frame),
allowing 8 traffic channels per carrier frequency